Opel bidder loses £122 million

Magna International, one of the two firms bidding to takeover Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors, has posted a second quarter loss of $205 million (£122m).

Between April and June, its year-on-year sales were also down by 45 per cent to $3.5 billion (£2.1bn).

Magna is the preferred bidder of the German government and Opel unions, although GM itself is leaning towards the rival offer from RHJ International.

The Canadian parts supplier was hurt by a 49 per cent drop in US production and a 28 per cent fall in Europe, but it is hoping to post a return to profit for the second half of the year to take account of the success of European and American scrappage schemes.